It can take work to get where you want to be.

Life can be a tricky game. There are so many outside influences working on us all the time. It’s hard to know how to be happy in this world. Knowing how to get what you want in life can put you on the path to realizing your dreams and creating your world in the way you’ve always wanted it to be. Remember, nothing is impossible, it just takes work to get where you want to be. Want to know how to be happy? Here’s a few tricks I’ve learned over the years that might help.

Don’t put off starting for fear of what might happen.

The other day I went to dinner with my family and a few family friends. One of the people present made a few negative comments about me living abroad. For a while, I listened, trying to keep my mind open to the teachings from the experiences of others. then she said something that made me disregard it all. “You shouldn’t marry a foreigner,” she said. “He’ll end up stealing your kids and taking them to another country where you can’t get to them.”

This woman was effectively trying to get me to not follow my happiness now because of a fear of something that could possibly in the future maybe happen.

There are so many people who put off living for fear of what might happen. Letting fear rule your decision making isn’t how to be happy. The first thing anyone needs to accept is that no one has any idea what will happen. Not tomorrow, not today, not in five minutes and certainly not in five or twenty years. Something terrible could happen to you while you’re sitting on your sofa — or something amazing could happen to you when you’re walking down the street. Never let fear of what might happen stop you from living the magic of right now.

Believe 100% in what you are doing

Ask me which God I believe in. The answer is All of them. Why? Because I believe in the power of belief. If there are enough people who believe strongly in something, it becomes real. Truth is often an invention of the human mind, and belief is the vehicle to that invention. Belief has this intense power of creation. That’s a bit cheesy, but the brain is actually that powerful. Take the placebo effect for example. Medical patients who believe that they are receiving medicine that will help improve their condition, experience a measurable improvement in their condition even if they were only taking sugar pills. Even better, your belief can convince others that something is true. Belief is contagious. Hold onto your beliefs 100%, and watch your crowd of followers grow.

Religiously Avoid Negativity

That power of belief works the same for negative thought. If you believe you are going to fail, you will. Don’t leave the door open for negative thoughts — any at all. Negativity will erode away at any cracks in your mental fortitude, until they’ve broken down your belief and taken away your power.

Negative thoughts can also have a measurable effect on your health, as Dr. Lissa Rankin explains in this MindBodyGreen article. Keep your thinking positive and religiously avoid naysayers. Know that you can accomplish anything — no matter what anyone else says.

Surround yourself with Like-minded People

When I say like-minded, don’t mean that you need to hang out with a homogenous group of people. In fact,that would probably be more detrimental than beneficial. However, during your lifetime, you’ll have the chance to choose with whom you pass your time — aka who your friends are. These are the people who statistically you will spend more than 80 % of your time, and these are the people who will have a direct influence on your behavior. It’s been proven that the five people who are closest to us, with whom we spend our time, have an exponentially greater effect on our behavior than anyone else we know. This means its important to surround yourself with people who support you in chasing your dreams and who believe in the possibility of you finding success through your passions.

You might not be lucky enough to be born into a family who supports you fully — but family doesn’t mean just blood relations. Family can just as easily be the people you chose to be with during your life time. Whatever your definition, your family should be the people who support you moving forwards into your future. If your family or friends are keeping you from following your passions, doing what you love or realizing your dreams, I suggest you seriously consider finding new people to spend your time with. Your family should be the people with whom you can share your dreams, not who you sacrifice your dreams for.

Don’t give your dreams up for anyone

Remember: You Are Responsible for Your Own Happiness. Not anyone else and not anyone else’s. The people you love might not love your decisions, but its only you who is going to have to wake up with them every day. You can be ridiculously happy or not, that’s your choice, but if you let other people stop you the only one who will lose out is you — you are the one who will be left with regret if you don’t follow your dreams.

You only live once. Don’t waste your time doing things that don’t make you ridiculously happy. There is no reason to strive for anything less than insane happiness 100% of the time. Yes, its understood that 100% of the time that might not be a reachable goal, but it should at all times be what you strive for. If you are striving for less than a marvelous, magical, fantastic and beautiful life, then you will get one.

Marisa is a New York Times published freelance journalist who writes about life at the intersection of technology, travel and wellbeing. She focuses on living better, respecting unique cultures and the positive changes that technology is making on the future of our globalized world.

Share your comments below. Please read our commenting guidelines before posting. If you have a concern about a comment, report it here.

“People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills . . . There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . . So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.”